Everybody is welcome, this blog is highly political, it represents my views, wishes and dreams. It will contain topics about culture, politics, E.U. issues, social comments and everything else that I find the need to share and pass on, from the country I come from originally (Greece) to the country I found my home (Ireland),Europe and the world.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Gay and Human Rights in a Capitalist society: a necessity for consumerism.

In a previous article I have explained how women are being
stereotyped and exploited by our modern capitalist, consumerist
society.

Sadly, as the capitalist system
requires an ever expanding market, buying and working power to support it,
women are not the only group of people who receive such treatment.

And this is what I am going to
analyze with this article.

Gay people, ethnic minorities
and immigrants also play a role in our economic model. And this role is the
driving force for the campaign for equal LGBT and human rights in most, but
sadly not in all European countries.

We have to admit that the
struggle for women’s or gay people's equality is partially driven not just by
human rights, but also by the need of our capitalist system for more potential
spenders.

When women were not able to
educate themselves or even work in most countries, they had no salary for
themselves. And so they could not be counted as consumers or a potential market
for products. Even if they did have any property in countries like Ireland,
Britain or the USA, they had no right to it after they got married.

But in a consumerist capitalist
society, having half of your population idle with no income for themselves or
spending power is illogical. So gradually we have witnessed the liberation of
women and the establishment of equal rights for both males and females,
something that would be unthinkable before.

And while a great amount of
praise could be addressed to our leading elites for apparently allowing the
promotion of human rights for women, their actions were assisted by a desire
for more profit in the capitalist system. Women might have escaped the
clutches of a severe patriarchal and absurd mentality, but that does not mean
they are equal yet.

Women are still being subjected
to stereotypes, though nowadays these stereotypes are not based on their role as home keepers, mothers, pillars of tradition, home-making and thrift for a
successful household. Now they are merely a huge market for products that are
necessary to keep our economy going.

If they did not receive equal
rights and payment as men, they would not be able to buy all those things that
the media, particularly women's magazines are promoting in their pages. By
establishing a very profitable business for them, they are creating a new role
model and stereotype for females, that is pushed on them since their
adolescence.

On a similar note recently and
increasingly, straight and gay men also find themselves as subjects to
stereotypes and role models. The fit, metro-sexual alpha straight male that is
not afraid to spend money on his looks, while also spending hours in the gym to
achieve the chiseled abs that the media and men magazines promote, is what
most young men now aspire to.

This sad reality is even worse
and vile in the case of gay men. After being subjected to centuries of
ridicule, discrimination, violence and persecution now they are having the same
treatment as women. Stereotypes are promoted on them, the so called "gay
culture". Such "culture" may have risen from secret
symbols and codes woven into an overall straight context, when
homosexuality was banned everywhere. And it began with wealthy homosexual
men using the straight themes of these media to send their own signals. (Wikipedia).

Gay women come last as they find themselves in the worse position. Because
they are women and gay, there are not even enough stereotypes made for them, as
if they do not exist, while it is suggested that female homosexuality is on the
same levels as that of the men. With few exceptions like TV presenter Ellen
DeGeneres, they escape the attention of the media as society rarely bothers
with them

Nowadays this "gay" culture combined with the commercialization of
human social groups, has produced a stereotypical image of gay men and their
role in a society. If you have any doubt about it, just close your eyes and
think of anything "gay."

In case you thought of Madonna, Lady Ga-Ga, camp hair dressers or
stylists that want to make naked women looking good, disco and colorful gay
prides, then you probably have been watching too much television and you are
brainwashed.

Homosexuality is not a "culture", it seized being one since gay
sex has been decriminalized. Well at least it should have. It is not uncommon
for older men and women divorcees, to be more open to it and exploring their
sexuality more openly after being married all their lives.

The also stereotypical institution of marriage and the notion that it is a
privilege only for straight people, is ridiculous as it is infuriating.
Especially when we are witnessing a crisis in straight marriages in the
developed countries, with a third ending up in divorce while another third
being dysfunctional, sexless, loveless living arrangements.

You see once you liberate women from the clutches of the masculine hegemony,
there is not always room for women's compliance to all the demands from men.
And since many married men and women also engage, or have engaged at some stage
in their lives in gay sex, it is clear that human sexuality is not a black and
white situation, or a culture. All "shades of grey" are available
between the two opposites.

Instead of trying to promote stereotypes for people, we should allow
everyone to have sex, love or marry anyone he or she wants. But then our image
obsessed world would make no sense to us, especially to our capitalist elites
who need stereotypes in order to file people and treat them accordingly. And so
we are happy to label everyone, dictating how we deal with them and what he or
she should be for us.

If a gay man still needs to go to a gay bar to socialize and find a person
to love,because everywhere else is inappropriate then something is
fundamentally wrong in our society. If a straight man can identify his
masculinity only when he rejects "gay" attributions, habits and sex,
or when he has sex solely with a female partner, then I am sorry but his so
called masculinity is based on trivialities.

If a straight woman can be called successful and fulfilled only when she has
a husband, a house with a mortgage, career, kids, a car just so to fit it with the general
public, then also her happiness and fulfillment is based on pure materialism
and outdated values.

Humans are not cattle to mate just for procreation. He are developed,
emotional and as we would like to think of ourselves, spiritual beings. So why
do we bring ourselves to the same level as animals? Even in nature
homosexuality is not uncommon, so our whole social structure is based on the
need to populate and colonize other continents during the European expansion,
centuries back.

This stereotypical portrayal of
ourselves leads to the commercialization of our gender, sexuality and race. And
it is very important to the capitalist, consumerist societies that we live in,
as we are bombarded with myriads of advertisements that are promoted role
models for us to aspire. We are all turned into buyers as well as billboards,
for companies to advertise their products with. We unwillingly become trade
able commodities, as the population and its buying power or habits, are
analyzed, categorized and exploited by the markets.

Either gay, straight, male or
female, not only we got to play a certain role in our society according to
established stereotypes, but we and our aspirations are also examined in order
to create a consumer database. This database then creates certain products for
certain groups of people and others for members of different groups.

Sadly such attitudes also
promote the eternal discrimination and injustice upon these groups in
our society. If I am expected to act, behave, socialize and love in a certain
way, do certain professions or engage in certain hobbies and activities in
order to be accepted into the society I was born, then I am still not free and
my human rights are merely rights to consume while I am being categorized by my
choices.

And it gets worse. People of
ethnic background or other races are also being categorized and exploited by
such stereotypes. The immigrants usually do the jobs that the native population
does not want to do, they work days that the mainly Christian European population
would not want to.

It is mainly the Muslim
immigrants that work on Christmas Day for example, a holiday that is revered in
many countries like Ireland and it is them that keep the shops open. A day that
the market of a country is closed is lost revenue for the capitalists and so
they promote multiculturalism in order to create a more vibrant working class.

The more variety in a
population, the more things are to sell to them as their preferences differ and
can be manipulated or categorized. I am not against multiculturalism,
capitalism, gay people, straight women or men, but I wish we had the guts to
proceed with true equality and not a skin deep one.

And I also wish that stereotypes
in our societies changed for real, not because they are necessary for
capitalism but because it is not in our nature to live with them.

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Petition: 2 ευρώ νόμισμα με τον Μ. Αλέξανδρο.

About Me

I am working full time in Ireland's semi-public sector. Recently I completed my Journalism studies (BA Hons) in DBS. Writing about politics and social issues, as well as historic facts is my passion. I want to change the way people think and become more active politically and socially. Do not feel very comfortable with idle people, people with no interests or opinion.

I am contributing to many other websites and on-line magazines, like the OVI Magazine, an English speaking online site from Finland. (http://www.ovimagazine.com/). Also the OneEurope website, a pro-European platform based in London, UK. They are trying to be a hub for information about organized European civil
action online and independent journalism from a European perspective. (http://one-europe.info/). I often debate in the Debating Europe website, an independent NGO about European politics ( http://www.debatingeurope.eu/). And finally, I have also cooperated with Newrop Magazine, a French/Dutch/German platform for European politics and think tank. (http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/).

Recently I started blogging for the euronews' blog, Generation Y. You may read my first article for them here.

If you are into politics, Europe, European history, culture and heritage, European social issues and economics but from a citizen's point of view you may like this blog. What I am trying to do is not impress you with my knowledge of economics. I am not an economist. Rather present you with thoughts, ideas and analyze European politics as any ordinary citizen would do.

I am trying to inspire you to become more active or even understand a bit more about some European, Irish and Greek political realities. Hope you enjoy!!